Heinz sells part of Muscatine business

More than 100 jobs will leave Muscatine this spring. Heinz sold off some of its product lines to another food-processing giant, Del Monte, last month, and that company will move one product now produced at the Muscatine factory to its Illinois plant. Heinz spokesman Robin Teets says it’s not a big part of the Muscatine factory’s production. They make mostly ketchup, including single-servce packets and tabletop bottles for food service, as well as Heinz vinegar and gravy and Boston Market gravy. Some tomatoes for all that ketchup may be grown in Iowa, though the spokesman says Heinz buys products from all over the country. The lines that were sold make store-brand soup. He says 600 people now work at the Muscatine factory, and the Del Monte purchase of some production will probably mean 120 to 150 jobs move to Illinois. Teets says corporate managers are still working that out with the union.